An investigation by the Kyiv Independent revealed that the Russian military obstructed local efforts to evacuate people from flooded areas, confiscating boats and threatening volunteers to halt their rescue operations. Meanwhile, local rescue services continue to operate.
Russian Minister, Sergey Lavrov, said there will be no cessation along the contact line in Ukraine. “We have a constitution”, Lavrov said, such a halt in fighting is not feasible. The Foreign Minister also made it clear that Moscow would not agree to any deals that involve further arming Ukraine.
Ukraine’s parliament passed a resolution to hold elections after “a comprehensive, just, and sustainable peace is secured”. The resolution to “support for democracy in Ukraine in the face of Russian aggression” stipulates that elections cannot be held under martial law.
The UN adopted Ukraine’s resolution condemning “the full-scale invasion of the Russian Federation into Ukraine”. The resolution was supported by 93 votes in favour, 18 against, including the US, Russia, Belarus, Hungary, Israel, North Korea, the Central African Republic.
The United States has provided roughly $183 billion in aid to Ukraine since Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine, with $65.9 billion spent on military support, according to the Pentagon and an inter agency oversight group responsible for reporting to Congress.
Russia has forcibly conscripted thousands of Ukrainians from the temporarily occupied territories in Ukraine, surpassing its 2024 mobilization plan by 104%, as Moscow seeks to minimize its current war costs by having Ukrainians fight against their own people.
Russia has been targeting both Ukrainian and foreign journalists covering its full-scale invasion of Ukraine. Nearly 150 journalists have been victims of forced disappearances, shootings, executions, and hostage-taking since 24 February 2022. 13 journalists have been killed.
Peace talks this week between Russia and the US aimed at ending three years of war in Ukraine have not impressed front-line Ukrainian troops, who see no quick end to the fighting if Kyiv is left out of the negotiations. Front-line troops say they are determined to fight on.
United States Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth has ordered senior military officials to develop a budget plan that would slash defense spending by 8%, a dramatic cut which could reshape military end-strength and readiness for decades to come in the future.
Vladimir Putin is assembling a heavyweight team with decades of experience in high-stakes negotiations to face off against US President Donald Trump’s representatives for a deal to end Russia’s war in Ukraine. They include Yuri Ushakov, his chief Kremlin foreign-policy adviser.
Last night, a Russian attack drone with a high-explosive warhead struck the shelter protecting the world from radiation at the destroyed 4th power unit of the Chornobyl Nuclear Power Plant. This shelter was built by Ukraine together with other countries of Europe and the world.
The United States Trump administration’s freeze of foreign funding has begun impacting an international effort to hold Russia responsible for alleged war crimes in Ukraine, according to numerous sources and a Ukrainian document seen by Reuters. However there are other issues.
